Red Dwarf (ship)
"Who would steal a gigantic red trash can with no brakes and three million years on the clock?" - Cat ("Psirens") The JMC mining ship Red Dwarf is a massive, city-sized spaceship, the central setting of the franchise and namesake of the show. Her crew make up the main characters of the show. Red Dwarf is the background for the Series I DVD Cover, whilst other series use other ships and locations from the show as backgrounds. Early Years The JMC Red Dwarf is an enormous mining craft, measuring six miles in length and is one of the oldest and largest vessels in commission for the Jupiter Mining Corporation, crewed by the Space Corps and commanded by Captain Frank Hollister. The ship was designed to be far longer and larger but this design was changed after the JMC made considerable cutbacks. At the ship's front is the Front Ramscoop that collects traces of hydrogen in space. "]] The Engine Core powers the ship, and the Ramscoop would allow the ship to theoretically keep running forever with an endless source of fuel. There is also a large number of solar panels and battery back-ups but due to the massive drain of power these could only maintain the ship for a few weeks without the main engines ("White Hole"). The ramscoop and front is protected by reinforced "carbon-carbon" heat-shields, capable of withstanding solar radiation, minor asteroid impacts and interstellar dust storms, and some form of unspecified device which reduces the force of acceleration, so that the crew inside are not squished by the speeds of the ship (likely a form of stasis-based technology, like with much of the cargo and water supplies). Red Dwarf also creates its own artificial gravity, although it is never explained how (a hangar bay sign in the episode "Backwards" gives a warning on activating the HyperDrive on the shuttles within the "Gravity Field" of Red Dwarf). Red Dwarf also had a Self-Destruct System, but Holly got rid of the bomb ages ago. Pree would later try to destroy the ship by disengaging the carbon-carbon heat shields and trying to fly the ship into a star. Much of the earlier history of Red Dwarf is unknown, but its crew mined and ferried ores between the colonies of Earth's Solar System, such as Jupiter, Io, Ganymede, Callisto, Titan, Mimas, Miranda and Triton at the edge of the Solar System. Officer Todhunter also claimed that it was equipped and stocked for interstellar flight. At some point what appears to be two asteroids collided with and embedded in the bottom of the ship, or this perhaps was intentional (i.e. for mining purposes) since two small moons were clearly and deliberately embedded when the ship was recreated by the nanobots. From season 10 onward, Red Dwarf had one large asteroid embedded in its underside with several small asteroids around it. The hull of the ship surrounding the large and small asteroids shows clear signs of impact damage implying the presence of these rocks in the ships structure was from an accidental impact.By the time Dave Lister became part of the crew, the age of Red Dwarf had began to show, as it was one of the slowest ships in commission and technical faults were numerous. Cat once referred to it as a "rusty tin can with three million years on the clock." 's original 6-foot-long studio model]] at the bow of the ship]] after being reconstructed by nanobots]] Controlling much of the ship's systems is the main AI, Holly, who originally had an I.Q. of 6000. Holly usually appears as a balding man's head floating in a black background on the many screens on board (apparently he modeled the face on the greatest lover of all time). Holly controls and navigates the ship, maintains power levels and, most importantly, ensures the crew's mental and physical safety (or tries to, given his computer senility). The JMC On-Board Computer could run the ship in Holly's absence. The ship had a population of 1,169, this contradicts Frank Todhunter's claim of 169. The novels state that the crew numbered 11,169. The ship also contains service robots called skutters that number in the thousands. These take care of most faults aboard except for incredibly useless tasks such as cleaning clogged chicken soup machines, which Second and Third Technicians of Z Shift take care of, mostly because it is said to be below them and they supposedly have a better union than the technicians. There are dozens of Vending Machines, garbage droids, and an array of artificial intelligence. Of the 3000 floors in the ship, most are devoted to cargo, food and water, with the hold containing enough food to last ten thousand years at full crew and massive tanks storing supplies of water. Vending machines everywhere in the ship instantly deliver food from the lower levels. These machines either accept coins, or the crewmember's personal credit, accumulated from work. Due to the massive power drain, Red Dwarf can only sustain one hologram at a time, usually the deceased crewmember most crucial for the mission at hand. As such, the appearance and personality of the entire crew is downloaded to disks and cataloged, with Holly having instant access. For entertainment, the ship contains many bars, nightclubs, restaurants and cinemas. Despite its size, there are only two Stasis booths in the ship to freeze crew in time on interstellar flights. The ship has signs labeled in both English and Esperanto. For minor infractions (e.g. smuggling contraband/unquarantined animals aboard), crewmembers are sent into stasis for a set, unpaid period. Paint detail, involving repainting the exterior of the ship, has also been known to be effective (although this is probably meant to be a joke because painting a starship while in space is impossible as paint will not stick to a cold surface; it is unknown whether the writers of the series knew this or not). Major infractions earn a period in The Tank, the ship’s classified prison on the restricted floor 13. Due to the age of the ship, Red Dwarf can only do a max speed of 200,000mph, making a trip from Mimas to Triton then back around to Earth take around four and a half years. However, after gradually speeding up for three million years after the accident, Red Dwarf broke the light barrier shortly after Dave Lister came out of stasis, before Holly was able to slow it down again. Shuttles '' and Blue Midget, the two main shuttle types aboard Red Dwarf. Taken from the Red Dwarf Remastered version of Bodyswap, Series III.]] Red Dwarf has dozens of shuttles (ship-to-surface transport vehicles) on board, of which are divided into four main types. In order of size, smallest-to-largest, they are White Midget, Blue Midget, Starbug, and White Giant, with many of each available mentioned in the television series, but only one of each mentioned in the novels. They are parked in the shuttle bays. In Series VIII, there is also the prisoner suicide squad shuttle, the Canary shuttle, which is likely a nanobot-rebuilt White Giant along with most of Series VIII. Of the two main types of shuttle used in the television series, Blue Midget was introduced in Series II, and Starbug in Series III. Many crucial scenes are played out in them. Having lost Red Dwarf, the Boys from the Dwarf spend Series VI and Series VII aboard Starbug. The final fight with the Simulant Generals in the last episode of Series X takes place with the crew in Blue Midget. In the Series At the series start, the crew of Red Dwarf was lost after a Cadmium 2 radiation leak wiped out the crew except Dave Lister who was sealed in stasis at the time. The incident was apparently caused by Arnold Rimmer's failure to repair the faulty drive plates. However, it is made clear that Rimmer was not really to blame, as his own arrogance and self-loathing caused him to believe he was responsible. His exact role in the accident differs from media to media, with him playing no part in the books. The TV series settles that though Rimmer had some part in the leak, his superiors were more to blame for assigning such a crucial task to someone so incompetent and unqualified. As the crew died, Lister's pet cat, Frankenstein, who Lister was sent to stasis for protecting, was safely sealed in the ship's hold. As millions of years passed, the cats evolved, bred, and formed an entire society in the ship's cargo levels, surviving on the sealed food on board after one discovered how to use a can opener. The cats eventually developed a religion based on Lister and Frankenstein, with Lister altered over time to Cloister the Stupid, a god who will lead the cats to the promised land Fuchal, which really was Lister's dream to open a farm and hot dog diner on Fiji, complete with funny hats with arrows through the head. The cats soon began a bloody holy war over what colour the hats should be (red or blue, though Lister wanted them to be green). After many losses on both sides, both factions left Red Dwarf in shuttles to find Fuchal following what they believed to be star charts (which were actually Lister's laundry list), leaving behind their sick, disabled or useless. Three million years after the accident, Holly released Lister from stasis and explained what happened. Due to the lethal amount of radiation in the ship, Holly kept Lister locked away until it was safe to free him and directed the ship away from Earth as per regulation to prevent further deaths. By the time Lister is free, Red Dwarf is in Deep Space, far from any mapped area, and now clocked its maximum speed to above or around light-speed. Holly's isolation during this time resulted in him developing computer senility. To keep his only remaining crew member sane, Holly resurrected Lister's bunkmate Rimmer in the form of a hologram. Holly reasoned that the conflict between the two would help Lister forget he is the last human alive. Cat, the last of the Felis sapiens, who was born from The Cripple and The Idiot, left behind on Red Dwarf, joins the two. Later, the group found Kryten, a Series 4000 mechanoid serving on a derelict vessel, Nova 5. The group spends their time lazily as Holly guides the ship back to Earth, indulging in the ship's vast food supply and salvaging derelict ships for needed supplies. A few years into this journey to Earth, Red Dwarf was stolen from the small crew by an unknown force, and they were reduced to dwelling onboard Starbug. During this time the hologram version of Rimmer gained a solid body (Legion), and later leaves. Soon after, at a temporal rift, the crew pick up an alternate version of Kristine Kochanski - Navigation Officer and Lister's ex-girlfriend and lasting obsession. '' on the planetoid which was once Red Dwarf in "RD: Nanarchy", Series VII]]They eventually discover that Kryten's nanobots, part of his self repair system, stole Red Dwarf due to boredom. Reshaping the ship to a smaller size, they turned the excess material into a planet, leaving any unneeded equipment on the planet's surface, including Holly. s]] Once caught, Kryten made the nanos rebuild the ship. To make up for their earlier mutiny, the nanos rebuilt and improved Red Dwarf, returning it to its original intended design before the JMC's cutbacks, which included several new floors, a quark level matter/antimatter reactor, a bio-neural computer network and a Karaoke Bar on C Deck. Unknown to the group, Holly created a second set of nanos to resurrect the crew. Some time after the group was sent to The Tank, Red Dwarf picked up an escape pod, which contained a Chameleonic Microbe that began to eat the ship from the inside out. Their attempts to find an antidote failed and Red Dwarf is last seen crumbling to pieces with the crew having fled and the group escaping to a parallel universe. Nine years later Red Dwarf is found to be still intact, though changed, much more like the original cutback version, even regaining the impacted asteroid. The original non-resurrected crew of Rimmer, Lister, Holly, Kryten, Cat, and Kochanski had somehow returned and saved the ship. During those nine years Lister went off the rails, and began to engage in acts which Kochanski saw as slowly killing himself. Depressed by this, she flew off in a Blue Midget (the ship somehow regaining shuttles), with Kryten telling Lister and the others that she had been sucked out of an airlock. onwards]] Rimmer is once again a hologram, though one with the memories of both the hologram and nano-resurrected Rimmers, and Holly is out due to a large amount of water damage caused by Lister leaving a bath running those whole nine years. The skutters are still trying to dry it out and reboot the computer, the larger resurrected crew are apparently still out there somewhere in their escape craft. After a bout with a Despair Squid, Lister learns of Kochanski's escape and vows to find her and win her back. Locations and II (which took place mostly around the mid-section of Red Dwarf including the location of the original Drive Room, Z Shift sleeping quarters and other rooms respective of each other. Deck plan courtesy of Daniel Barker of Barker Studios Entertainment.]] * The ship computer Holly monitors most the ship through his Supervision Field * Elevators provide transport across the thousands of decks. For longer journeys, there are also the Xpress Lifts and the bullet train system * Corridors * Drive Rooms * Captain's Office * White Corridor 159 * Sleeping quarters (the main living space of Lister and Rimmer) * Cat's sleeping quarters * Science Room * Medical Room * Sperm Bank * Dental practice * Shuttle bays * Customs * Locker Room * 2,143 restrooms and Toilets with revolving toilets and toilet paper * Showers and bathrooms * Penthouse Suite * Officer's Club * Rimmer's New Officer's Club * Floor 341 * Disco * A Deck * B Deck * C Deck * D Deck * G Deck * M Deck * Z Deck * Parrots Bar * Karaoke Bar * Games Room * Gymnasium * Caligula Suite * Mess Hall * Shopping Mall * Electoral debate room * Cinema * Botanical gardens * Observation Dome * Observation room * Stasis Chambers * Floor 14 * Floor 16 * Hologram Simulation Suite on Floor 592 * Holly Room * Mineral geologists room * Photo processing * Solar panels * Front Ramscoop * Engine Core * Diesel Decks * Water Tank on G Deck * Docking Foot * Diving Bells * Cargo bays (these take up most of the 2500+ decks of the ship) * Bay 47, Quarantine * JMC Red Dwarf Customs * Two asteroids embedded in the underside of the ship * Research labs on Z Deck * Supply Pipe 28 * Sewers * Waste Disposal * The Tank, the classified 400-inmate prison on restricted Floor 13 * The Hole, a cell for solitary-confinement in The Tank to be completed Known Original Crewmembers * Captain Frank Hollister * Executive Officer Carol Brown * Second Officer Frank Todhunter * Flight coordinator George McIntyre * Flight coordinator McQueen * Ground Controllers * Science Officer Bradley * Science Officer Buchan * Science Officer Katerina Bartokovsky - (N.B. possibly a non-existent hallucination) * Science Officer Parkinson * First Console Officer Kristine Kochanski; another version from a parallel universe who later joins the regular characters is Navigation Officer Kristine Z. Kochanski * An unnamed officer who shares quarters with Kochanski * Engineer Frank Saunders - mentioned only in the novel as the first ship hologram before George McIntyre * Navigation Officer Henri Dubois - mentioned only in the novel as the individual most responsible for the accident that killed the crew * Deck Sergeant Sam Murray * Fourth Engineer Grace Allender, Mineral Geologist First Class Jeremy Black, Drive Officer Russel Farnworth, and Officer Lovell are all mentioned in the crew's funeral scene of "RD: The End", found on the Series I DVD. * Console Executive Imran Sanchez is mentioned in the Red Dwarf novel Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers. * Chief Medical Officer Karen Newton, her Medical Orderly and her Medi-Bot * Chief Psychiatric Counselor Lucas McClaren and psychologist Brannigan * Officer Harrison - unknown capacity * Officer Denton - unknown capacity * Catering Officers Tim, Olaf Petersen, Selby and Chen. "Headbanger Harris" is mentioned as the kitchen porter who moonlights dealing in Freaky Fungus. * Supply Officer Caroline Carmen - Joined the Leviathan at Titan, replaced by Patricia Carling. * Yvonne McGruder - Occupation unknown, ship's female boxing champion and Rimmer's single sexual liason * Carol McCauley - Occupation unknown; a secret crush of Rimmer's * Crew member Weiner - Rank unknown ''Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers'' * First Technician Petrovich - Only in the books ''Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers'' * Second Technician Arnold Rimmer - In charge of Z Shift * Third Technician Dave Lister - Lowest ranking crewmember only above the laboratory mice Miscellaneous Crew Members * Miner MacWilliams * Man in the shower. ("Stasis Leak", Series II) * Crew members of various ranks and trades taking exams with Arnold Rimmer (Television series pilot episode) * Various JMC Minors played by actors Alan Mc Donald, Paul Ambrose, Johnny Barrs ("Stasis Leak", Series II) * Female Crew members that fall for Rimmer after he took the Sexual Magnetism Virus. * Guards * Karki Guard played by Fraser James To be completed with crew from the novels Security, Prison Guards * Security / MP Thornton * The Tank Warden Ackerman * Chief Guard / Canary wrangler Knot * 400 prisoners in the classified prison on Floor 13, The Tank. They were originally meant to be transported to a prison colony at Adelphi 12. Among the inmates included Baxter, Kill Crazy, Mex, Nigel, Big Meat, Blood Drinker, Chummy, Saddo, Birdman and Pete. Gallery Drawings Red Dwarf has appeared in various animated forms. ReddwarfBDYSNTCHR.jpg|''Red Dwarf'' in the original storyboards of Bodysnatcher The red dwarf ship by kazeninaru-d6v35ox.jpg|Series I-era artwork 1st panel.jpg|''Red Dwarf'' as depicted in the Red Dwarf Smegazine Red Dwarf Movie Concept Art (Red Dwarf).jpg|''Red Dwarf'' featured in concept art for the unproduced Red Dwarf: The Movie Red Dwarf Movie Concept Art (Departing Earth).jpg|''Red Dwarf'' departs a large space station Series I-V The squat "box"-shape design with chaotic features of the original design. The six-foot-long studio model by Peter Wragg is how the ship appeared in Series I to Series V. 1920x1200SeriesI.jpg|The hull of Red Dwarf as seen on the Series I DVD artwork Reddwarffront.jpg|The Front Ramscoop at the bow of the ship peter-wragg-2.jpg|5 foot long model used in Series V 4762193_f260.jpg|Series V model RedDwarfSignage.jpg|The signage of the ship which Lister has to paint on Punishment Detail reddwarfside.jpg|Side ship zoom out, original model redwarfduststorm.jpg|''Red Dwarf'' entering a massive dust storm ("Confidence and Paranoia") Confidence+Paranoia - SpaceWalk (1).jpg|Lister and Confidence on a space walk outside the ship (Confidence & Paranoia, Series I) Confidence+Paranoia - SpaceWalk (2).jpg Confidence+Paranoia - SpaceWalk (4).jpg|Lister and Confidence by the solar panels Confidence+Paranoia - SpaceWalk (3).jpg ConfidenceSpaceWalk.jpg| redwarfside2.jpg|Communication / relay arrays? redwarfside3.jpg|Communication / relay arrays? redwarfcity.jpg|City-like structures atop Red Dwarf dwarf underside.jpg|The underside of the vessel; note the embedded meteorite redwarfthruster.jpg|Rear thruster Observation-dome.jpg|Observation Dome dwarfIV.jpg|''Red Dwarf'' in Series IV Dnaclamp.jpg|The Dwarf's suction Docking Foot onto the DNA Ship ("D.N.A.") Dnaclamp2.jpg|Another view of the docking clamp; rear underside of ship Dwarfbug.jpg|The shuttlecraft Starbug 2 smashes by the Red Dwarf hangar door the_tardis_onboard_the_red_dwarf_by_doctorwhoone-d5327pq.jpg|The "Tardis" from Doctor Who makes a guest appearance in the hangar bay Dwarfblowup.jpg|''Red Dwarf'' blowing up in the Series V finale, "Demons & Angels" RedDwarfExplosion.jpg|The end of the original model Dwarfblowup2.jpg Figurines Various miniature models of the ship have appeared in merchandise, often similar to its later appearances in Red Dwarf Remastered and Series VIII. red_dwarf_model_ship_by_hordriss-d3fj4iw.jpg red-dwarf-mother.jpeg The_Good_Ship_Red_Dwarf_by_frasierdalek.jpg Series VIII The ship had a different appearance in Series VIII, similar to its elongated, "pencil"-shape in Red Dwarf Remastered. This was explained in the show as it being a result of it being reconstructed by the nanobots. Although a model was made, the fly-bys were not considered good enough by the showrunners, and the ship remained in CGI. RD-ship-comparison.jpg|Comparison between the original ship and the reconstructed one RedDwarfShip.jpg|The ship resurrected by the nanobots in Series VIII SeriesVIII-profile.jpg|"Pencil"-shape profile SeriesVIII-shipfront.jpg|The front of the ship SeriesVIII-commandbridge.jpg|The command tower command Command tower series viii.jpg|The command tower containing the Captain's Office CGIRedDwarfbig.jpg|CGI rear SeriesVIII-rear.jpg|Rear view Unproduced Movie The trailer for the unproduced movie made use of the Series VIII model. redwarfcontroltower.jpg Back to Earth The ship again had a new CGI appearance in Back to Earth; this time the change, which had occurred at some point during the 1999 - 2009 Bridge, was left unexplained. The design was somewhere between the original and the Series VIII; although it was shorter than the Series VIII ship, it retained many features of it, including the twin asteroids. The biggest alteration was the large rear thruster. 1999-2009 Bridge.jpg BTE-sideofship.jpg|''Red Dwarf'' in Back to Earth Observationdeck2.jpg|The updated Observation Dome Ship-BTE.png|A Back-To-Earth-era montage of the ship Series X - Series XII For Series X, a new model was created by cutting the Series VIII model into three sections, discarding the middle section with the twin asteroids, and rejoining the front and back. This made it shorter, and resemble the Back to Earth design, with it also being even closer to the original design. A new, single asteroid was added to the bottom of the ship. 64146_.jpg|The creation of the Series X model, before addition of the embedded asteroid File:The_Red_Dwarf_sapce_ship_as_seen_in_series_10.jpg|''Red Dwarf'' in Series X pic3.png|''Red Dwarf'' signage in Series X Untitled_140.jpg|Simulant beacon latched onto Red Dwarf ("The Beginning") red_dwarf___the_red_dwarf__j_m_c__mining_ship__by_doctorwhoone-d6o3ale.jpg|Front ramscoop, side view reddwarfsunapproach.jpg|''Red Dwarf'' approaching a sun File:Re-entry-ramscoop-1.jpg|Lister approaches the Front Ramscoop ("Fathers & Suns") File:Re-entry-ramscoop-2.jpg|Lister inside the Front Ramscoop ("Fathers & Suns") Untitled_131.jpg|Underside SeriesXII-shiprear.jpg|Rear of ship (Series XII) RedDwarfShipXII-a.jpg ship-frontview.jpg Red-Dwarf-Bow-XII.jpg Red-Dwarf-XII-Trailer-1-1.jpg XII_Trailer_01-1024x576.jpg Red-Dwarf-XII-Trailer-4-1.jpg|''Starbug'' emerges from the landing bay ("Cured", Series XII) mechocracy-7.jpg|Side of ship ("Mechocracy", Series XII) RD-schematic-series xii.jpg|A schematic of the ship and Engine Core (Series XII) References Category:Spaceships Category:Space Corps Category:Red Dwarf Locations Category:Places